Bachelor King 8: Typical Day's Work
by creativeKing95
Summary: A typical day's work can include anything from dating to friends to fighting enemies. Find out just what can really happen on a normal day in Amarkia. (Some parts told in third-person.)
1. Chapter 1

It was May 22, 2015. We had just come back from the 8th Grade End of Year dance. Of course, I'd taken Lilia. After all, she was my girlfriend now. And it was a nice way to celebrate our first-month anniversary as a couple. I'd bought a new light brown suit and wore a baby blue dress shirt and a striped tie. Lilia had worn a super-cute brown dress that matched my suit perfectly.

I danced almost every dance with her; until my feet were so swollen I couldn't even walk anymore. But I was willing to make any sacrifice at all just to please her. It was now almost eleven and it was time for me to take her home. So I said goodbye to everyone and told the girls and Larry to wait for me at the Palace.

We walked all the way home, holding hands, the late spring breeze blowing through us. We laughed and talked like we'd been doing for a month now. We talked and texted every day. And every time, we always said, "I love you," and kissed. Let me tell you something, she really knows how to kiss. I wonder where she learned.

Anyways, we arrived at her house. "Well, here you are. Safe at home."

She smiled at me. "Thanks, Spiny. I really had fun tonight. You made it all better."

"I really liked being with you, too," I said, feeling butterflies in my stomach. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

She blushed and laughed. "Yes, but it's nice to hear it again. I love you too."

I leaned over kissed her passionately and deeply. She put her arms around me and pulled me so close that I almost suffocated. When I pulled away, I looked into her pretty eyes and said, "Goodnight. I love you."

"Goodnight, Spiny. I love you, too." She stepped in her house, closing the door behind her.

Sigh.

Aren't I fortunate to have such a beautiful, understanding, and fun girlfriend like Lilia? Anyways, I walked back to the Palace and instantly went to bed. Next day was a Saturday, but I still had to go to work. Being a King is a 24-hour, 7-day job, you know?

Next morning, I got up as usual and went to the office. Larry was already there, and was looking at the morning news. There was nothing new except stuff about the economy and the expansion of a national park here in Amarkia and how we were still imposing sanctions on Russia and North Korea.

But a story that was making the headlines was all the violent protests that had been going on in Baltimore over in the US. And several more had erupted across the country. There had even been some small protests here in Amarkia in the past few weeks or so.

"Hey," I said to him.

He turned around and grinned. "Hey. How's it going?"

"Oh, fair to midland. You sleep well?"

"Sure. And you? I can tell you had a fun time last night with you-know-who."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on. Don't start with that now. We have a lot of work to do today."

He nodded. "Okay." He turned off the TV and sat at his desk and started working.

After a while he said, "Say, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"What is it we do in Amarkia when something like that happens?" he said, pointing to the TV.

"When what happens?"

"Protests. What is our reaction when uprisings occur?"

I pushed away the paperwork that I was working on and cleared my throat. "Well, as long as they're not violent, we don't really do anything. I mean, our citizens do have freedom of expression and freedom of speech and they should be allowed to say what they think."

"Yeah, but, now, suppose something. A stage 1 protest is that there are scuffles. We don't do anything?"

I shook my head. "Nah."

"Stage 2. There is now vandalism and some damage."

"Then, we put out our police forces."

Larry got up and started pacing. "Now, a stage 3 protest is that there is now rioting and many windows are broken. Police are failing to control the crowds because they're getting kinda pushy."

"Then, we put out the National Police."

"Ah and…what do they do? Like, how do they work?"

"Well, they have military-style tanks and they also use water hoses to break the rioting. And they also use non-hazardous chemical sprays to sort of disperse crowds."

"Now, how about a stage 4 protest? When there is now looting and tons of damage. What do we do to those who are causing damage?"

"In a case like that one, we bring out the Amarkian National Guard and declare a state of emergency. And those who are looting and causing damage will be subject to special courts set up for them."

"Now, the fifth scenario. A stage 5 protest. The police and the national guard soldiers are being attacked directly."

I tapped my finger against the desk. "In that case, we use full force."

"Full force? Okay. But before that, in stage four, what we use is rubber bullets, right?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Flash grenades, and paintball guns. Non-lethal BB guns."

"And under a stage 4, we declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew."

"And in the most violent case? We bring out the entire National Guard and some members of the Army and declare a full 24-hour curfew until the emergency ends."

"In that way, only the real troublemakers are out, right?"

"Yeah."

"Now, a stage 6 is that things really get bad. Buildings set on fire, mass rioting and looting, violence, and people disobeying the curfew. Something not common at all."

"Like a revolution? An uprising?"

"Almost, yeah."

I exhaled. "Well…in that case we do the one thing that no Amarkian king has ever wanted to do or has ever done. Something that all Amarkian kings have long feared. Something that no one has ever wanted to do."

"Go around naked?" he asked.

I stared at him. "No!"

"Pick your nose on camera?"

"No!"

"Step down from the throne?"

Huh? "NO!" Not in a million years.

"Throw a nuclear weapon at a random city?"

"Ah…are going to let me finish?!"

He didn't stop. "Drink water from the toilet?"

"E…you drink water from the toilet?!"

"No, you," he said.

"What? No I don't!"

He shrugged. "I give up. What's that one thing that no one has ever wanted to do?"

"If it went to an extreme case and I had no other option at all and if it was the last thing that we could do…declare martial law." Just saying those last two words make me get chills. Like I said, it's never happened before in Amarkia in all the 95 million years that the country has existed. Everyone, even all the kings have been afraid of what might happen.

"Oh." Larry's response sounded like Oh, just that?

I continued by saying, "And to enforce it, we'd have troops at checkpoints and strategic locations like street corners and at the entrances of our cities and towns and at algae oil fields, electric plants, factories, farms, water storages, the places where we store money and our gold and precious metals, and the government buildings and the Palace, of course.

"And we would also replace the existing court system with military courts. And those who break the curfew or continue to be disobedient would be subject to military courts."

He nodded as if satisfied. Then he went back to his computer and started typing. I continued my work, also.

"Oh, and I have another update for us Amarkians. Something that is now perfected."

I quickly stood up. "A cure for acne?"

"No. You don't have that problem. You don't have a single pimple, blackhead, or mark on your face. It's still like a baby's skin."

"Oh."

"It's got to do with a disease."

"Um….I give up. Which is it?"

"And it's not a cure, by the way."

"It's not a cure. Well then, what is it?"

"It's a disease which has been officially discovered here in Amarkia."

That got my attention. "Oh?! There's a new disease?"

"Yes."

"Uh, what exactly is it?"

He scratched the back of his head. With his tail. (I was in dinosaur form, too. I hadn't been in quite a while.) "I wouldn't know what to call it, really. But it causes distortional bone growth."

"Distortional bone growth?!"

"Yeah, it makes you grow bony spikes."

I scoffed. This was a little hard for me to believe. "What kind of disease is that?"

"I don't know," he laughed. "But is also causes the swelling of organs."

Now, that really got my attention. "Swelling of organs?! That sound painful!"

"And the decomposing of flesh."

"Blech!"

"And in extreme cases, the skin is so weakened that it can't hold in the swelling organs. So, basically, your organs all fall out."

"Blech! That's gross!" I couldn't imagine organs swelling, much less falling out of your body. "That doesn't sound pretty."

He shook his head. "No, it's not pretty at all. At the moment, the treatment is a bullet in the head."

"Huh? Excuse me?"

"Yes, to avoid immense suffering."

"That's the only way?"

"Well…none of our painkillers work. It's the only humane thing to do."

I took some time to wrap that around my mind. But I was interrupted when Larry said, "And there's another disease."

"Another one?"

He nodded. "Well…the name is of some debate. Some call it the zombie virus."

"What-zombie virus? There's no such thing as zombies!"

"I know which is why we call it something more realistic. The Maddening Virus. That's what is basically is."

"The Maddening Virus?"

He nodded. "Basically a mutated version of rabies. And the scary thing is that one of our scientists was infected with it."

"What happened?"

"He got crazy. But he didn't start decomposing or anything. Because like I said, it's got nothing to do with zombies. But he did become a crazy, carnivorous being."

"Eesh!" I shuddered at that. That was definitely not something I'd like to catch.

"And what did we do? We put him in a containment cell."

"You did? How's he doing?"

"He isssssssss kind of doing fine. He seems to have no sanity and no humane instinct. Because, like, he's launched his body so many times against the wall, that he's starting to deteriorate himself."

"And he doesn't even know it?"

"No. And he doesn't even seem to care."

"Hmm."

"And he seems to have no fear instinct."

"So, they're not afraid of anything at all?"

"No, not at all," he said in a British accent. "And we threw in a rabbit, just to see what happened."

"And what did happen?"

"He bit off the head."

"Nyah! He did what?!"

"Then, I threw in an alligator."

"And what happened?" I asked anxiously.

"Eh, strangely, he survived the alligator attack. Uh, despite losing both legs."

"Ahh!" I screamed in shock. He lost both legs and survived?! "He's legless?"

"Yeah, he's legless. Those who are infected seem to have no need for vital organs."

"And…what happened to the alligator?"

"Well, it was also infected."

I chuckled. "Don't tell me he got crazy, too!"

"Yes."

"Yikes!"

"Yep. And now, they're attacking not each other."

"What? They're not?"

"I guess—and this is our clue to the cure in case it does happen—they sense the virus is in them already."

"Hmm. What do you think it would do to The Red Eyes?" Oh, yeah. The Red Eyes are an evil group which live in a distant galaxy. All of them are evil. It's consisted of robots, humans, dinosaurs, monsters, aliens, and other beings. And like the name suggests, they have red eyes and black bodies.

They are our greatest enemies and are cruel, emotionless, incredibly powerful, savage, selfish, and purely sadistically evil. And although we have hundreds of other enemies, The Red Eyes make no alliances and even attack other evil groups. They always break their promises and even kill their own children and show no emotion at all, as if they were flies. They attack without warning, always intend to kill me, and have a personal grudge against Larry that goes back several billion years and encompasses dozens of parallel universes.

So you can imagine how they are with us Amarkians. And no one on Earth knows they exist. They are VERY hard to beat and their attacks always cost us dozens of lives.

So, anyways, Larry said, "Red Eyes?"

"Yeah, since those who are infected have no fear?"

"Well, Red Eyes have a grim system. They kill themselves if they fear infecting army men."

"They kill themselves?!"

"Yes. They have no fear of killing themselves."

"Eesh! That's sadist."

"And they have no fear of killing their own children. No hesitation, no tears."

"Oh, wow!"

"Just call of duty to them…and saving themselves."

I was silent for a while, trying to grapple all this information. All I could say, "Wow."

Larry sighed loudly. "Yes, so these are two new diseases that we've discovered."

I shook my head, thinking of all the problems in the world. I was thankful that we had peace and tranquility in Amarkia. But little did I know that before the day ended, there would be many dead and injured while we suffered at the hands of our enemies.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Spiny?" Larry asked while I was filing some papers in the cabinet.

"What?" I answered.

"I know what we should do."

"What?"

"Go to Arnold's and get ice cream."

"Ice cream? It's not even summer vacation yet!"

"That's why. It's cheaper. It's cheaper in these times. Wait, it's still spring?"

"Yes, we have seasons, too, you know?"

"Yes, I like cinnamon."

I rolled my eyes. "Not that kind of seasons!"

Nonetheless, we stepped out the office and up the elevator and out the exit. We got into TIV and drove over to Arnold's. That's our teen hangout. Just before going in, I changed to human form.

Just before going in, Larry grabbed my shoulder. "Wait, Spiny. Don't go in yet."

"Why not?"

He went before me. And since the door were automatic, they opened in front of him, but I didn't get quite get a chance to get in and—ahh!—the doors closed on my neck! "Hey! What's the idea of closing the doors on my neck?"

"What? Oh, sorry." He came back and after struggling for a while, pulled me out, almost tearing me in two.

We turned around to go sit down, but then, all the girls screamed and started running towards me. "Wait a minute! Calm down!" I shouted.

"Yes, if you stop, he'll give a free kiss!" Larry said.

I stared at him. "Larry! I have a girlfriend now!" He didn't seem convinced. "I think you just committed myself to something very expensive."

"Spiny," he whispered. "On the count of three, start running. Three, two, go!" And just like that, zoom! We both ran as fast as possible. I looked behind me. "Ahh! They're coming after me!"

We went zooming down the street, and um, ran over the mailman. Not on purpose, bu I didn't see him, until I felt that I bumped into someone and papers went flying everywhere. Larry looked behind us, and said, "I think we left all those girls behind!"

"Think so?" I yelled.

He nodded. I looked ahead and saw a taxi. "Hey! Open up!" The cab driver opened the door and Larry pushed me in so hard that I banged my head against the other door. "Get in!" Then to the driver, he said, "Step on it!" And he really stepped on it. I think he went from 0 to 60 miles per hour in one second. The force pushed me back. "Hey, not so fast!" I mean, the guy didn't even give me a chance to put my seat belt on!

And then, he suddenly put the brakes on, and I went flying forward and POW! Ugh. Crashed right into the windshield. Larry also went flying and somehow landed right in my face. He smiled and said, "You have beautiful eyes."

"Shut up! Get away from me!" I pushed him away.

"Sorry."

"It's just that I happen to have a great shade of blue eyes." I got back into my seat. "Ow! You know, I've even heard that 5-year-old girls have fallen for my eyes?"

Larry tilted his head and said, "Aww! Even hamsters. I mean, uh…"

Ignoring his stupid remark, I said, "You know that once, a girl in her senior year in high school fell for me?"

"Nyah!" he shuddered.

"Yeah, I know."

"Unnatural," he said. We had a good laugh about that close call and finally got home. We walked through the Gates and stared walking down the driveway. "Hey," Larry said. "Is that Greeny up ahead?"

I looked up and saw a small, light-brown and blonde-headed boy. Yep, Greeny all right. "Yep, it's him."

Greeny saw me coming and he came running to greet me. "Hi, Spiny!"

"Hey, little buddy," I said, smiling.

"Hey, Greeny," Larry said.

"Hi, Larry," he said back.

"How's your day?"

"Oh, fine. I had a great playdate!"

Larry nodded. "Ah!"

"I made the biggest castle in class yesterday with building blocks!"

"Excellent. What did the castle look like?"

"Like the Palace!" Greeny remarked.

"Excellent," Larry said again.

Then Greeny turned around to leave. "Where you going?" I said.

"Oh, I'm going to a pool party!"

"But it's cloudy. It might rain!"

"Yeah, but the pool is inside and it's heated."

Then, in a mocking voice, Larry said, "Yeah, Spiny!"

I turned to him and said, "You stay out of this!"

His eyes widened and he looked from side to side. "O-kay…"

Greeny said bye and off he went. "Have fun drowning!" Larry yelled.

I hit him in the back of the head. "Shut up!"

"Can't you appreciate my sense of humor?"

I shook my head. "No, because your sense of humor is twisted and perverted."

Well, anyways, afterwards, I decided to take a walk since the air was fresh and nice. Only trouble was that I hadn't left when a bird flew over and…well, let's just say that it dropped two white bombs on my hair.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Then I called Larry and he quickly came. "Larry."

"Yeah?"

"Wash my hair."

"Okay."

You know what the idiot did? Instead of being sensible and getting some shampoo and water, you know what he did? Out of thin air, he grabbed a water hose and put it on the highest pressure. And of course, he sprayed me. Let me tell you, it's not fun to be sprayed on by a high-pressure hose. It feels like a hard metal that's constantly hitting you in the face. And of course, it doesn't let you breath either.

"Oww! Stop it! Stop! Stop!" I yelled as hard as I could with all that jet of water in my face. It took a few minutes, but finally Larry got my message and he turned off the hose. My face was dripping with water and my hair was soaked. "You messed up my hairdo!"

"Oh. Sorry."

"Do you know that girls have…" he didn't let me finish.

"Have killed, tripped over each other, and pushed to get one of those lovely little black hairs on your pretty little head to put in their scrapbooks?" Then, for no reason at all, he pulled out a hair, which of course was painful, and started yelling, "Who wants some of Spiny's hair!"

"Give me my hair."

He ignored me. "Spiny's hair! Get it while it's cheap! Only $5,000!" Cheap?! What was going on in this guy's mind? "Give it or else!"

"Why? Can you imagine what one hair alone will sell for?"

I walked up to his face. "Larry."

"What?"

"I need my hair, so don't you dare pull anything else out of my head." I think he suddenly got crazy, because with his Metal Power, he put both his hands on the sides of my head and started squeezing. And it hurt. Oh, it hurt! Felt like a migraine!

"Ow! Ow! That hurts! Stop it!"

"Squish, squish, squish!" he said, obviously ignoring me.

I finally pushed him away. "Stop it! Besides, I wanted to hang out with Lilia today."

"With whom?" he asked as if he'd never heard of Lilia before.

I put my hands on my hips and stared at the stupid Eoraptor before me. "With whom do you think?"

Then, he did something truly stupid. In an unusually loud voice, he said, "I THINK THAT MAYBE YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH KYLIE!"

Argh! I tried to keep my calm. I really felt like killing him right then and there. But that would be a waste of time and energy, because Larry's immortal. He's been in the middle of nuclear explosions and come out with only scratches and bruises.

"Larry," I said in a low, angry voice. "Why did you do that?!"

He smiled. "Um…"

"Never mind." I tried to calm my temper by changing the subject. "Let's go for a walk before it rains or something, huh?"

He shrugged. "All right."

A few minutes later, we were walking down a street, and saw Lilia coming up. "Hey, look who's there," Larry said, pointing ahead. I saw her and my heart started racing. I adjusted my hair to see if it was right. Then Larry said, "Hey, Spiny?"

I looked at him. "What?" Know what he did. He hit me in the face. Yep. That's all he did. I asked him why, and his answer was another punch. Then, he did something that scared the living daylights out of me.

You see, he flicked at me with his fingers. And of course, that isn't supposed to do any damage, right? Unless you have the Physics Power. But I didn't know that he had it on. And with the Physics Power, one touch can cause a huge blow. So, with that one flick, he sent me flying into the bushes and I banged my head against a metal fence. It's a wonder how I survive all these blows.

I stood up, slightly dizzy and with grass all over me. Lilia saw me and came running over. "Spiny, are you okay?"

I shook my head to shake the vapors out. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What happened?" she asked. I guess she didn't see when Mr. Smart-Aleck almost killed me. And, in a way it's good because if anyone found out about the super powers…well, let's just say things would suddenly turn very grim for both of us and…and I don't want to even think or talk about it because then I'll get nightmares.

Anyways, Lilia started wiping the grass out of my face, "Here, I'll clean your face." I stood still while she cleaned away. The touch of her fingers on my face left burning sensations all over and made me get all tingly. "There, all done," she finally said.

"Thanks," I said. "You're the best." I leaned over and kissed her. She blushed. "You're the best, too," she said. Then she went on, walking on. I kept looking at her until she was out of my view. She blew a kiss at me and I was about to do the same when Larry suddenly pushed me down and yelled, "Oh, my goodness, Spiny! Get down!"

I laid low and the ground and I prepared myself for the enemy that we were hiding from.


	3. Chapter 3

"What? What is it?" I said, anxiously.

"Ah…it's Rudy." Oh. Was that all? As might recall, Rudy is my first-cousin and another good friend of mine. He's a Suchomimus. He lives on the northern side of Sauropolis. But nonetheless, Larry kept us hidden. "He's gonna see us," Larry whispered.

"What's the matter with him seeing us? He's my cousin, for goodness' sake!"

Larry's eyes popped open. "Oh, right." He stood up and yelled, "Hey, Ruda!"

Yikes! That made Rudy quite angry. "That's Rudy! R-U-D-Y! Rudy!"

"R-U-D-I, got it," Larry responded. Then, Larry had a look on his face that indicated that he was thinking. I immediately thought, Oh, no! "Rudolph," he said. Then he started singing, "Rudolph, the green-nosed Suchomimus, had a little twitchy! Because of a curvy snout! And that was his little twitchy!"

"SHUT UP!" Rudy yelled.

But Larry kept saying, "…was his little twitch?"

"My nose isn't twitching, but my lips are!" Sure enough, his lips were twitching as he began to snarl at Larry. But even that didn't stop Larry from saying, "Your breath stinks." That really got Rudy mad, because he started chasing Larry around in circles around me. "All right, all right! Rudy, leave him alone."

Larry was hiding behind me. "Yeah, leave Larry alone."

"He's not worth it."

"Yeah, he's not…wait, what?"

"We all know that he likes to annoy, get in the way, and be a pest, act stupid…ow!" Larry kicked me from behind. "Please don't defend me, Spiny," he pleaded. Rudy rolled his eyes and walked away, grumbling something in Amarkian which I cannot translate because when I started writing I promised myself never to use curse or swear words.

"Why was Rudy mad at you?" I asked Larry.

"I don't know. He's always mad at me. Well, at least somebody is proud of me."

"Yeah, your reflection."

"And you."

"I'm not always happy with you," I said. But I had barely finished saying it when he said; "Aww!" and he pulled me into a hug and messed up my hair again. "You're just good at hiding your emotions, that's all."

I pushed him away and wiped myself clean of his molecules. "Now," he said. "What should we do in this great gigantic country of ours?" I guess he was saying what we should do now in our free time.

"Larry, it's not a gigantic country. It's the 56th largest country in the world."

"Ah, but gigantic with opportunity?" he remarked.

I grinned. "That's better."

"Gigantic with riches," he continued.

"Much better."

"Gigantic with entertainment!"

"Huge!" I agreed.

"Giant with…carbs!"

Okay, that was not quite so. "Uh, not so much with that. We don't have unhealthy foods, Larry."

"Yes we do," he said quickly.

"No, we don't. We make all our food without any pesticides or fertilizers and even our fast food is thousands of times healthier than in other countries. Why do you think there is no obesity or diabetes anywhere in Amarkia?"

"Frankenfood," he muttered. "You know what's funny?"

"That you're not normal?" I mean, that is a fact.

"No."

"You wet the bed?"

"No! Ugh, nothing. Just keep going."

"What? What is it?" I insisted.

"Nothing. Just keep walking." Well, if he wanted to take it that way, fine. I mean, here I was trying to be lighthearted and humorous with him and now he's the one who gets angry? Well, I was thinking of all this when all of the sudden, he said, "Turn around and go back to the Palace."

I looked at him, completely confused. "What?"

"Go back to the Palace."

"What? Why?"

"Just turn around and start walking back. Don't ask, just go." I shrugged, and still confused, turned around and started walking back. When we got in the Palace Gates, Larry whispered, "I sense the Red Eyes."

I stopped and my heart froze when I heard those last two words. I looked at him in shock. "You sense the Red Eyes?"

Instead of answering, he said, "Spiny."

"What?"

"You know what?"

"You went crazy thousands of years ago and now you finally found out?"

He shook his head. "I sense the Red Eyes," he repeated. Now he was dead serious. And I was getting scared. "How can you sense them?"

"I can sense their evilness."

I looked all around me. I saw nothing but trees, pedestrians, planes passing by, cars zooming on the highway, and birds and pterosaurs flying. I didn't see anything suspicious or that would be a cause for worry. But I knew the Red Eyes and they are very sneaky and experts on surprise attacks.

So I said to Larry, "Do you think we should be getting ready for an attack?"

"No, we should be ready for extermination. Of course we should be ready for an attack! We're Amarkia. We have to be ready for anything and everything."

But how do you prepare for anything and everything when you don't even know what those two words mean? We would find out very soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**(262 miles to the east, on Amarkian border, 20 miles south of city of Culebra.)**

Guards kept walking back and forth overlooking their assigned places. Behind them, the tall Amarkian Mountains which had protected them for 95 million years stood defiant. In front of them, were several mighty walls and dozens of electric fences. Every few dozen miles or so, we're massive steel gates that opened and closed.

Inside the massive walls, soldiers and guards monitored the hallways while below, the entrances to the country were guarded by the Border Patrol.

A young man stood by while his partner sat behind him in a chair. He turned to him and said, "Are you alert, Mike?"

Mike yawned and said, "What? Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm alert." He didn't sound convincing, so the young soldier kicked him hard and yelled, "Wake up! Do you realize that we are the most hated country in the world?!"

Mike yawned again and stood up saying, "Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am."

"Shut up! One more smart remark and you'll be stripped from your ranks!" Finally, Mike got up, and at that moment another guard shouted, "I see a suspicious-looking man coming towards us!"

That got the young man's attention. "What? Where?!" He pointed ahead and sure enough, walking through the Egyptian desert towards them, was a baggy-looking man with no hair and a small beard. He came up whistling and walked up to the guards. "What is this place?" he asked.

"This is the border of Amarkia," the guard answered.

"Oh, thanks. I'll just let myself in," the man said, walking to the entrance. However, the young man pulled him back. "Wait just a minute! Before you can get in, you will have to be inspected! I'm sorry, but these are regulations."

The man didn't do or say anything, as he didn't know what the young man was talking about. The young soldier said, "Come on! You got any metal?"

The man opened his mouth and said, "Let's see. Where my tooth?" He reached into his mouth and started pulling a tooth out. The young soldier said, "You'll have to go through this metal detector."

"Aww," the man complained. "But wait just a second. I'm trying to reach in to get my lead tooth."

The young man didn't hear right and said, "Middle tooth? How can you take out a middle tooth?"

"Lead tooth!" He pulled it out, handing it to the young soldier then said, "I have some braces, too."

The young guard shuddered. "Don't you care for your teeth?"

The man ignored him. "Well, that's it." And he headed for the entrance again, but was stopped. "Wait a minute! You have to go through this Neutralizer. We've had a lot of fools sneak in with bombs. This thing neutralizes all explosives and weapons." He forced the man into a circular containment-type cell, while two thin tubes rotated around him twice. "It gives two coatings."

He stepped out of that and the guard said, "Identification, VISA, passport, paperwork, or the like?"

He handed him his paper and the soldier went to check his records on the computer. "Fingerprints."

"On all fingers," the man said jokingly.

"I know that, stupid, but…"

"Then why ask?"

"All right, smart-aleck. Shut your mouth and sit down while I do my work here!" The man ignored him once again, heading for the gates. "Ah-ah! We're not through yet, you know? We have to wait for the results to see if you're suitable or not to go in Amarkia."

Some higher official arrived briefly to keep an eye on the stubborn man. Finally, the high superior said, "All right. What are the results?"

The young man took out the results and started to look over them. "Um, I don't know how to read computer code. We'll have to decipher it first." He put it through a decoding machine and waited for the results to come out. "Here you go, sir," said another guard, handing it over to him.

He looked over it and read everything thoroughly, checking it three times. "Okay, sir," he said to the man, still waiting to be let in. "That checks out. You are…a dangerous criminal. Get out of here!"

"Wait, what the…"

"Go on, get out of here! Get out! Out! OUT!"

"Wait, I just came over from Algeria!"

"Yeah, well that makes it even worse. That's an enemy country. Out! Let's go!"

"Okay, but it never hurt anyone to let citizens from enemy countries in," he said, putting his hand on the young guard's shoulder. But, something that the reader must know is that guards are kind of touchy when it comes to touching them.

"Hey, hey, hey! Hands off! Hands off!" he shouted to the other guards. "Get him!" Out of nowhere, dozens of other guards appeared, all falling in on the suspect. "Throw him the bucket!"

"No! Wait what's that?"

"We all it the Slam-House Hotel. You might know it as jail!"

The man looked very surprised. He didn't know what to say. He started struggling as the guards tried to handle him. "Ahh! He's moving too much!" one of them shouted.

"Time for torture!" another yelled. He went and brought a bird feather. "Tickle him into submission!"

The man started yelling. "No, no, NO!" The guard tickled his bare foot as hard as he could until the man got very limp and weak and they were finally able to lift him up and throw him into an empty cell inside the massive metal walls.

"There! You're going to stay right here until your trial! And be happy that you are in a country where everyone gets a fair trial!" Leaving him locked up, the young man returned to his post. He found his partner asleep again in the chair.

He kicked him in the leg. "Hey! Wake up!"

"Huh? What? Anabelle? Is that you, honey?" he said groggily.

The young man was now furious. "Don't you dare honey me! You are in the line of duty in guarding the gates of a powerful and hated country! If I see you fall asleep again, I'm really going to let you have it!"

He blinked and stretched. "Don't yell at me so early in the morning. You know what it does to me."

"Oh, shut your yap! And it's not early. It's barely 2 pm."

He sighed and returned to his post where another lookout, a young Albertosaurus was looking into the distance through binoculars. He turned to look at the young soldier. "Nothing except…wait! There's an ugly female monster!"

"That's my face!"

"Oh, what a coincidence," he said. "Sorry." He turned back to the horizon. "Nothing except an approaching Jeep."

The young man jumped. "What?! Sound the alert and order all troops and guards on stand-by!" The Albertosaurus said, "Yes, sir!" He turned back and started yelling orders at dozens of guards. The young man stayed on the lookout post on the wall and looked down as the Jeep was approaching the car entrance. "Set up the wall!" he yelled.

Instantly, a wall of extra-thick iron rose up from the sand and rose up and up until it almost obscured the view of the mountain peaks. The Jeep stopped several yards away, its horn beeping continuously.

The young man spoke through a loudspeaker and pointed his rifle at the vehicle. "Step out of your vehicle with your hands in the air! Don't try any foolishness!" As he spoke, the driver's door opened slowly. Everyone waited, but no one came out and the beeping continued. "If you don't come out, we will fire and destroy your vehicle!"

Beep! "One!" Beep! "Two! Beep! "Would you stop beeping!?" BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! "All right! Three! Fire!" BEEP! The air was suddenly filled with the sounds of guns firing and metal being destroyed as the Jeep became a fiery ball.

The young man smiled to himself, wiping his hands and turning around to leave. BEEP! "Huh? What the?!"

The Jeep had grown four extensions on all sides. They came to meet in front of it, while a voice said, "Ruse ready!"

The young guard stood astonished and confused as he watched the "destroyed" vehicle moving suspiciously and saying, "Ruse ready! Ruse ready!"

He began to yell, "Red alert! Red alert! Put all teams and personnel on red alert! This is Red Alert Level 3!" He didn't have any time to be surprised when the Jeep exploded violently, shaking the walls and sending sand, metal, and plastic everywhere.

The young soldier turned to Mike and yelled, "Wake up, Mike! We have a Red Alert!" Mike quickly stood up and began shooting. "You're shooting in the wrong direction! It's down there below us!"

A superior officer appeared. "What's going on?!"

"A Red Alert, that's what!" All of the guards and military personnel began shooting below them at the Jeep. "Alert the Royal Family at once!" a general yelled. "Alert the King! Alert the King!"

(AT THE PALACE.)

Ring! Ring! The phone started ringing and I looked up at Larry. He was snoring his life away. "Larry!"

"Uhhh!" he mumbled.

"Will you get that?"

"Uh…you get it."

"Get that, Larry!"

He sat up. "No, you get it!"

"You get it!"

"You get it!"

He leaned over and looked at the phone. "It's nothing important. Just the Chief of the Border Patrol."

"Oh…wait! What? Chief of the Border Patrol?! All right." I picked up the phone and quickly said, "He'll be right with you!" Then I pushed the phone into Larry's hands.

He said, "He'll be right with you!" Then he pushed the phone into my hands!

I gave it to him. "You do it."

He handed it back. "No, you do it!"

"You do it."

"No, you!"

We did that several times before we heard a voice yelling from the phone, "Red Alert! Red Alert on the border!"

I grabbed the phone and put it on my ear. "What? Where?"

"How? Who? Why?" Larry yelled.

I poked him so he would shut up and let me listen. "Shut up! No, not you. I was talking to another idiot. I mean, no! Uh…never mind. All right, thank you." I hung up and turned to Larry. "There was an attack on our Eastern Gate!" He gasped and we both started running all directions, bumping into each other half a dozen times.

"Wait! Stop! First thing we do is not to panic! We have to remain calm! We have to keep our senses. And stop hitting me!"

That's what he does when he's nervous: he just starts hitting me randomly for no good reason at all. And he kept hitting me! "Are you the real Spiny?" he said.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm the real Spiny!"

"Oh, right. Why was I hitting you then?"

"I don't know! Why don't you ask yourself that question!"

"We don't have time for that! Your life and your family's life is in grave danger!"

(AT THE BORDER.)

The fire from the tremendous explosion had barely gone out. Hundreds of guards came rushing over confused, and shocked trying to see what had happened.

Sneaking in, a simple-clothed person walked up to the sleeping guard. "Hey, man, can I go in?"

"Zzzz. Uh, sure, go ahead." The man passed and the guard quickly went back to sleep. Not five minutes later, the young guard came running back and saw him sleeping. "Hey! Wake up!"

"Uh! Did you check out that guy?"

"No, I…wait a minute. What guy?"

"Um…the one I just let in?"

"You did WHAT?!"

"I thought you were here! After all, this is your post!"

"I wasn't here, stupid! I was down there! Do you realize that you could have let in a terrorist or a murderer?"

"Or an innocent citizen?"

"Hardly!"

The sleepy guard looked all around him and whispered, "Uh, just between you and me, what's the punishment for something like this happening?"

The young man looked at him sternly. "I don't want to even think about it." He turned to leave while Mike said, "But I'm not trouble am I?"

"Well…let's just say that you won't be getting a medal of honor or bravery and leave it at that, okay?"

Mike gulped and sat back down looking at the ground. Then, he looked up and said, "I'm hungry." The young soldier hit him. "This is no time for eating! We have a whole country to protect!"

Another guard yelled. "Go get that criminal!"


	5. Chapter 5

**(BACK WITH SPINY.)**

I was in the middle of reading, when the phone started ringing again. I looked up at Larry. "You get it now."

"No, you."

"You get it!"

"You." Then he got up and…GASP! He was going to unplug the phone!

"All right, all right!" I picked up the phone and said, "He'll be right with you!"

But Larry pushed it back. "You do it."

"You answer!"

"You!"

"You!"

While we were both there fighting over who wouldn't answer the phone, we heard a very loud voice from the other end saying, "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" Larry and I looked at each other with huge eyes. I immediately put the earpiece over my…well, my ear, obviously. "Hello? Wait a minute! Calm down, I can't understand you! Where?"

I was very concerned. Like I said, Amarkia is a hated country and A LOT of people and organizations would like to see us go extinct. But as I was there, trying to find out what had just happened, Larry…the good-for-nothing idiot…you know what he did?

Right there in the middle of a national emergency, instead of trying to help and solve the situation, you know what he did? Right in the middle while I was talking on the phone, he reached into my mouth, and PULLED OUT MY TONGUE TEN FEET!

"Ahh! Larr-wee! Gu-wve me my tongue black!" I had my tongue out, so I couldn't talk right. I mean, no matter if you speak English, Pig Latin, Spanish, Chinese, Taganrog, or something else, nobody will ever understand you if some brickhead just pulled out your tongue.

Anyway, Larry had pulled out my tongue, and then, his eyes gleamed with a mischievous look. Uh-oh. "You wouldn't…" I said. Or tried to say.

He grinned and said, "Oh, wouldn't I?" Then he let go. And just like a measuring tape, my tongue went flying back and—POW!—slapped me right in the face! Ha, if you don't think it hurts, then try taping a piece of wet rubber to your mouth, stretch it some ten feet, then let go of it and see how much it hurts when it slaps your face. I hate it when Larry does that. There's a lot of things that he does that I don't like. But that's the one thing that really tears me up.

And since he knows I hate it, he does it often. He lives to make my life miserable. Ay yay yay. But one of these days, he's really going to get me angry, and when that happens, I'm going to…

Never mind. Why worry about stuff that I can't do anyway?

Anyways, after Larry finally let go of my tongue, I said into the phone, "Say what?! Oh, no!"

"What? What happened?" Larry asked. Oh, so now he's concerned.

"Okay, thanks." I hung up. "A dangerous criminal slipped into the country."

"By air? By land?"

I shook my head. "No. By a sleeping guard."

"Wha…huh?! You're kidding…that's not in the books." I guess he was referring to the fact that we don't have a plan of action in case a guard falls asleep at his post.

I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. "I have a feeling that it's going to be a very long book."

"Yeah, and it has a total of 141 pages," he said. I stared at him, thinking, What the heck are you talking about?!

"Aw, shut up," was all I could say to him.

He ignored me and said, "What about your arrangements with Lilia?"

I stopped myself before I answered back. He had a good point. I had completely forgotten about that. Well, I would have to disappoint her. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love her very much and all that, too, but there are things more important than romance and girlfriends.

My first duty as King is to protect my country and my citizens.

"I think I may need to cancel that, right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I got out my phone and texted her. "Won't be able to make it today. Something super important came up at work."

She texted back, "That's okay. We can make it another day."

"Thank you for understanding. I love you!" I added some heart emoticons to that.

"Your welcome. I love you, too!" She added a smiley face, a blushing face, and a face with hearts for eyes. I smiled. How I love this girl!

Anyways, back to the serious stuff, I started giving orders to Larry. "We need to make an entire perimeter check of the area."

"Yes. Yes, sir." We both ran out of my room and out of the Palace. And somehow, Darla was walking on the sidewalk and Larry managed to run right into her. "Watch where I'm going, sir!"

Darla was obviously surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, that's what you should have said first."

"Shhh!" I said to Larry. One thing about Darla: never, NEVER make her angry. She'd beaten up a lot of guys single-handedly…which may be why no guy wants to date her or why Roger is hesitant to.

But Darla was mad. "Why did you call me 'sir'? Even though I'm a tomboy, I'm still a girl, you know!"

"Yes, technically," Larry said.

Now, that really got Darla all riled up. "What did you say?!"

"Nothing, nothing. Anyways, while you're here, I might as well tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"That Spiny and I won't make it to Arnold's today. Something more important came up. It's kind of national and it's an emergency to which we have to attend to at once."

Darla crossed her arms. "Let me guess; Spiny got death threats."

"No," I said.

"Someone slipped into the country?"

"Yea…wait. How did you know?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes, he does," said Larry.

Darla looked at both of us and said, "All right. I'll tell you how I knew before you telling me. I'm a girl."

O-kay. I didn't have an answer to that one. But Larry did. He said, "Physic." Eeek! Remember what I said about never making Darla mad? Because she has a bad temper and will resort to physical violence? Well…let's just say that if I hadn't grabbed Larry by the tail and gotten out of there, he would've ended up in 37 individual pieces.

Besides, we had a lot more important things to do.

(IN RESIDENTIAL SECTOR OF SAUROPOLIS.)

Scurry, scurry, scurry! The evil Red Eye agent slipped through the bushes, trying to be unnoticed. He hurried along the sidewalks. So far, so good. He had managed to fool the guards and was now in his enemy country that since being born, he had vowed to kill and exterminate the "inferior" race of Amarkians.

He couldn't wait to either shove a sword or shoot a bullet through King Spiny's chest or head. He stood up, and now with his disguise, began walking down a street. He bumped into a little kid. "Watch where you're going!" the kid yelled.

"Shut up!" the Red Eye said.

"Aw, shut up you!" and he stuck out his tongue at him.

"Hey!" The Red Eye said.

"What?"

"Shut up."

The little kid just rolled his eyes and sighed. "And you better not tell your father!" The Red Eye ordered.

The kid walked away, still mad and not the least bit intimidated. "I'll think about it," he yelled over his shoulder. Then he stopped, realizing his pockets were empty. "If you promise me to give me back my ice cream money!"

The Red Eye growled at him. "Be…QUIET!" Then, he got out his mini-destroyer and was about to kill the annoying little kid—as he had done last week with his own kids when they didn't want to kill their mom—when someone else came walking down the street.

He cocked his gun and hid behind some bushes. He began to hear voices, and thought he had gone insane. But then he realized that he was right beneath an apartment building and that there was an open window on the second floor.

"What?" said an elderly woman's voice. "Oh, you know that I don't go to weddings anymore." She must be talking on the phone, the Red Eye thought to himself. "I don't know. You know how I get. I always cry." She walked to the window and threw out a pot of boiling water, which landed right on the Red Eye. And then she threw the pot out and it landed on his head.

She kept talking while the Red Eye kicked the bucket off and rubbed his hand against his head, trying to ease the pain and the burn. His blood started boiling and grabbed a brick and launched it to her window.

CRASH!

The old lady nearly fell from the surprise and yelled, "What was that?" She had no time to react when the Red Eye jumped up to her window, his teeth and claws flashing and his red eyes blinking. She couldn't scream, as he tore his claws into her throat and skull.


	6. Chapter 6

Larry and I paced back and forth until we were almost making a trench in the carpet. We were waiting for a response from our agents out in the field who had gone looking for the criminal who slipped in the country.

I grabbed the phone and was about to call when the TV announcer said, "We interrupt regular programming to bring you this special bulletin." I quickly ran in front of the TV. The screen read Breaking News! As the camera showed live video of a small brick apartment building with several police cars and an ambulance, the newsman's voice said, "We have just received reports that half an hour ago, a woman was found dead in her home in this apartment building. Police tell us that she had very-sharp knife-like objects that penetrated through her head."

Eesh! "They seem to be claws," said the newsman who was standing with a microphone. "But they seem to have been longer and reinforced. We do have an eyewitness to the event. At the time of her death, another woman was speaking to her on the phone and she told us that she heard the woman say that someone threw a brick through the window. After that, all she heard was screaming and noises of flesh and bone ripping."

Okay, that was enough. I turned it off. "My stomach won't be able to take this." Then I turned to Larry. "What do you make of all that?"

"It's a Red Eye."

I was afraid he would say that. If there's one thing that I'm afraid of, it's the Red Eyes. But I couldn't let him know. "I recognized it from the beginning."

He nodded. "You see, they work kinda sneaky."

"Oh, yes. That I could bet on. They are very revealing."

"Too revealing, I mean, uh…"

I looked at him annoyed and said, "Okay, not that kind of revealing!"

"The kind like when Kylie wears a lacy, transparent outfit?"

"No!"

"Like when she wears min-skirt?"

"NO!"

"Or how about when—"

"Be quiet!" He coughed and laughed "innocently." He smiled and said, "Um, did you see the game last night?"

"There was no game last night. The season ended a month ago!"

"And yet they're still there."

"Why don't you be quiet for a change?"

"For a change? How much?"

Okay, okay. Calm down. Just relax and calm down. Don't do anything that you'll regret later.

"Larry this is not the time to be making comedy."

He wiped off his silly grin and replaced it with a serious face that looked hilarious. "Yes, well, as I was about to say…I think it's time that we started going under higher security."

"That's a good first step. Starting now!"

"Go somewhere safe, then."

"The bunker?"

"Yes."

Let's pause here for a minute, okay? I should explain what the bunker is. It's not just an underground room to where we go to in case of emergencies like this. It's a vast system of underground chambers underneath the Palace. It can be accessed in any room and hallway at any time through special conduits that lead down to it.

The main chamber is the size of a small apartment room. It has ten beds and has water, food, medical supplies, and clothes to last 18 months. And for every individual, there is a large backpack with supplies for 2 months. There are also weapons for defense and security reasons.

The bunker is radiation-proof, bomb-proof, fire-proof, and waterproof. Its doors are ten inches solid steel. We also have our own electricity source with a large generator that runs on itself.

There also special medical staff who are there in case of injuries or illness. We also have several guards and other important personnel. There is a special room from which I can continue to run the country along with several advisors and generals. And Larry, of course. There is also a greenhouse to grow food and about 2 million seeds to plant.

It's kind of one of those things that comes out on that show called Doomsday Preppers. Except that this is practical and I use it about four times a year. Like I said, not too many people like us alive, especially since we're dinosaurs and are more advanced than humans.

Anyways…

Larry said, "We have to get to the bunker. Where there's one Red Eye, there always, not two, or three or four or five or six. There's always about three dozen or so."

"And it just keeps rising proportionally with each number, right?"

"Well, they're not like gremlins but, they're tricky fellows," he whispered.

I paced around for a while to clear my mind, and then I said, "Start making preparations. Call out the Army and the National Guard and put all other departments of the Armed Forces on Standby. We could be facing a major catastrophe."

 **(SOMEWHERE ELSE, NOT TOO FAR.)**

The Red Eye continued scurrying through the shadows. He had killed that old lady without any trouble. He couldn't wait to kill more old ladies and schoolchildren. He lived for that. When he stopped where we needed to, he grabbed his grenade.

He looked up through the bushes at the police station. Perfect, he thought. That way those ignorant jerks will all die or be too busy with the explosion. Enough time to go and kill the King and his loved ones.

He counted to three, threw it and hunkered down.

The quiet street was shaken by the BOOM! The building turned into a raging inferno and torn wood and beams and shattered glass. Several police cars also went up. "Fire, fire!" someone yelled and several people went over. Within seconds the firefighters arrived to try to put the massive flames out.

And almost instantly, the policemen who had survived quickly go into their cars despite their burns and cuts and began sounding their sirens and blaring their lights. Quickly, the neighborhood was alive with the sounds of police, fire and ambulance sirens.

With everyone distracted, the Red Eye quickly hurried over to the city's next-closest police station. But he would not throw a grenade at that one. He sneaked in through the air conditioning system, into the sheriff's office. He was like a quiet mouse, hiding behind the cabinet. With his tail, he reached out and grabbed a shotgun.

He was about to grab a knife, but he dropped it, causing a clatter. The sheriff quickly stood up and looked around. "What was that?!"

He started running out the door, but didn't make it. The Red Eye jumped on his back, pinning him to the ground. He grabbed his knife and pierced it through his skull, penetrating his brain and muscles.

When he was dead, the Red Eye stepped back with a satisfied smile. Another job well done. He called into his radio to HQ, "Got the coppers. Two police stations down. One civilian dead. Next person who's going to have a knife through the head is King Spiny."

All over the city, and in the suburbs, the streets were filling with lines and lines of police cars, trucks, SUV's, motorcycles, and highway patrol and state police vehicles, their sirens blaring and light flashing.

Scurry, scurry, scurry. The Red Eye quickly moved back out to the outskirts of Sauropolis. There were several law enforcement officers as well. He heard sirens on the streets and even helicopters flying overhead. "I'm closing in on the city," he whispered to HQ.

"Okay. Keep us informed. Kill as many police if you can."

"Got it. I'll meet you in the Palace," he said, laughing evilly. "You need to create a ruse. You know what I mean, buddy-o." He continued scurrying towards a shopping center. Perfect change to kill dozens of people at once. He put on his disguise and walked briskly towards the entrance.

Before we could go in, he was stopped by some police officers. "Wait a minute! You look suspicious to me!"

"I do, officer?" the Red Eye said.

"Yes, I do. And you don't the authority to be dressed like that."

"And I don't have the authority to do this either," he said, cocking his gun at the officer.

He quickly went for his gun and said, "No, you don't!"

Before he could shoot him, the Red Eye teleported behind him, and shot him dead. The other officer quickly yelled, "Back up! We need back up! Red Eye in front of shopping center on 12th avenue has shot officer! Alert the Royal Family!"

 **(BACK AT THE PALACE.)**

I was still waiting for any news from our guys on the field when Larry came running. "They're here! They're here!"

I stood up so fast that I got dizzy. Whoa! "Who? Who's here?"

"The Red Eyes! The Red Eyes are here!"

"Where are they?!" I was now very worried. Okay, I was scared.

"One of them just killed a police guy. And…they've stolen some of our super-power potions."

"They did WHAT?!"

"Yeah, but only three."

"Only three! Which three? Which three?"

"Bone Manipulation, um, some have the Laser Eyes, and Teleportation."

"Teleportation?!" Oh, great. That meant that they could appear right in front of me and kill me in one second then do the same with my family and all the other government officials. I was about to resign myself, when Larry said, "But only with line of sight. They can't teleport by memory. Only around them."

Well, that was good news. I hope you get my sarcasm here. Anyways, Larry said, "But they have used their own teleportation abilities to attack police and…" he looked all over me. "Why aren't you in the bunker, you idiot?!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Larry…we are in the bunker."

"Huh?" He looked around. "Oh, yeah. But, wait! Where's your family?"

"Present," said Robert, who was sitting in his bed up against the wall.

"Oh, yeah," Larry said. "Um, I…"

"Never mind. You're never going to apologize to me for calling me idiot, anyway, are you?" I said.

Larry shook his head. "Probably not."

"Good." Then it hit me. "Wait a minute! What about the others? Dimetroodon, Roger, Darla, Rudy, Lilia…we need to make sure they're safe, too."

"Yeah, you're right. In all this excitement I guess, I forgot."

"I'm going to go get them. They're all probably down at Arnold's."

"No! You go get Lilia. I'll take care of the others."

I nodded. "Okay." I grabbed a shotgun from the wall and headed upstairs. Larry was behind me.

As we made our way up back to the surface, I could feel the sweat pouring down my face and my heart jumping up and down.

I wasn't ready for what happened next.


	7. Chapter 7

_Scurry, scurry, scurry._ The Red Eye looked up and saw hordes of people running on the street towards the local shelter. _Hmm. Let's see who could I kill? There's a mother who's pregnant…an elderly woman…a man on a wheelchair…wait. Isn't that the king's girlfriend?_

A security officer was yelling through a speaker, "Everyone, please proceed to the city bunker! Remain calm and organized! Do not panic! Do not panic! Stay away from windows and outside walls. Proceed to…ahh!" Red Eye sneaked form behind and sank his claws into his neck, tearing it in two.

The crowd began to scream and panic. People began to trip over each other and push and shove each other. The Red Eye ran into the crowd and started punching and hitting random people as much as he could.

Then, his eyes turned on Lilia. She began running in the opposite direction. He then got really evil. His teeth and claws sharpened and the adrenaline started pumping through his system. He pounced right on her.

"Get off of me!" she yelled, her back pinned to the street. He snarled at her, and foam and saliva dripped off his fangs. His tongue split in two, with pointy ends. Then, he started scratching her face, and blood started pouring out.

Then, he opened his massive jaw, revealing thousands of blade-like teeth, and he began to close his jaws around her throat as she screamed and whimpered. Suddenly, they both heard someone yell, "Geronimo!"

None of them had time to be surprised when Spiny came jumping from nowhere and pounced on the Red Eye in his dinosaur form. Spiny and the Red Eye rolled for several yards on the street, until Spiny kicked him off, sending him flying right into a metal pole.

Spiny stood in front of Lilia, defensively and yelled, "Hands off of my citizens!"

The Red Eye was now furious and injured, but still evil. He slowly and menacingly began to come closer and closer. "Uh…Larry!"

Spiny was about to slash at him with his claws, when four more Red Eyes appeared behind him. They were all growling and blood dripped off their teeth. From all their other victims. Then, the first one shot lasers from his eyes at the shelter, which was filled with people.

"No, stop!" Spiny yelled in vain.

Out of nowhere, a massive shield appeared and the lasers reflected back at the Red Eye's eye. He screamed in pain and turned with an enraged glare at Spiny. "You can have me, but you can't have my country or my citizens or my family! If you want to kill, kill me but leave everyone else alone! Choose me, not millions of innocent people!"

Then, in voice that sent shivers down Spiny's back, he said, "Oh, Spiny…if only you knew!"

Spiny was now standing over Lilia completely to protect her. "I don't care what personal grudges you have against me or Larry. He never did anything to you or your people! But don't take it out on us, by killing innocent people!"

The Red Eyes all snarled at him and started growing spikes all over and began to slowly grow more claws and teeth. Spiny gulped. "I don't think that convinced them."

Underneath him, Lilia said in pain, "I don't think so."

"It's not just Larry," the Red Eye said in a slow, blood-curling voice. Then, he pinned Spiny on his side, and his hot breath came on his face. "You're stepping on my knee!" Spiny complained. I have to distract him somehow, he thought.

"Why don't you just kill me now and stop mentally torturing me? You're freaking me out!" The Red Eye ignored him, and gripped his throat with his hand. He began to squeeze slowly. Spiny choked out, "Larry!"

He looked down and saw the three others pounce on Lilia. "No, stop! Please! NOOO!" Spiny tried to push the Red Eye off from him, but he was now too weak. He laughed evilly and started squeezing his neck harder. His vision began to blur, and then…

"Spiny."

"What?"

"Spiny?"

"What?"

"Spiny, Spiny, Spiny! Wake up!"

Spiny's eyes opened and he looked around him. He didn't have any injuries and Larry was standing right in front of him. "Huh? What?" He blinked his eyes. No, it couldn't be. Or could it? Am I dreaming? Did I just wake up? Or am I dead?

"Spiny, the Red Eyes are getting closer."

"What?"

"They're in the city limits now."

"Then, you mean to tell me that…did you see the dream that I just had?"

"Yes."

He groaned from disappointment. He had hoped that this was a dream and that he was about wake up again. "Um, Spiny? Lilia's still out there."

His eyes popped open. "What?!"

"And, uh, by coincidence, she's running to the city hall shelter with all those other people."

Huh? He looked at Larry. "Hey, that means…I have another chance! I can do something! Thank goodness for time travel and weird dreams!"

"Divine messages," Larry muttered.

"Yeah, right." And he turned and ran outside and to the same spot on the same street.

Up ahead, the Red Eye was in the air about the pounce Lilia. Spiny jumped as hard as he could and knocked him over in mid-air to the ground all the way to the other side.

"Keep your blood-guilty hands off of her!" He stood in front of her, defensively. "You want to get her? You gotta get rid of me first! And that goes if you want to kill anyone else. You have to get through me first!"

The Red Eye smiled defiantly. He took out his gun and shot a random person dead.

Spiny could feel his anger boiling and his teeth glaring in the sunlight. "All right, you asked for it! Why don't we try something old-fashioned? Let's try hand-to-hand combat. Like the days before our era ended because of the meteorite?"

The Red Eye grinned. "Those days were the best?"

"Yes, that's why we should try it."

"I always loved ripping other creatures' hearts out."

Ignoring that chilling comment, Spiny said, "Why don't we try it? No modern gadgets or weapons. Just teeth and claws."

"I love teeth and claws," the Red Eye growled.

"Yeah, well, you're not going to like this one, baby."

(FROM SPINY'S POINT OF VIEW.)

We both snarled and lunged at each other. It was terrible. The air was filled with snarling, growling, snapping, biting, kicking, scratching. He tore at my back and I bit his hind leg. It was really quite nasty, to be honest.

Then, he did a judo move on me, throwing me back. His mouth opened and…you're not going to believe this, but his teeth—which were already nasty and dangerous—began to spin like little drills. Yep, told you you wouldn't believe it. Or do you?

Never mind.

"Hey, that doesn't count!" I said.

"Who said it counts?" he answered. "I'm a Red Eye!"

I kicked him off. "Well, I'm an Amarkian, and that makes everything count in my favor!" Then he came at with those drill-teeth of his. Now I was fighting a defensive battle. I pushed as hard as I could so that he wouldn't sink those death machines in me.

Then I grabbed his neck in my jaws and started biting down hard. I just had to snap it and it would all be over. It was too bad that he grew an extra arm on his back. When I saw that, I was shocked. I let go of him and he was about to slice my head.

I raised my arm and with my super-sharp claws…I decapitated him. That's right. Chopped his head, right off!

But you know what happened? No, he didn't die. He didn't even collapse. He grew a new head in two seconds! And there he was again, snarling and making threatening noises. Hmm. What would happen if…

Just to see what happened, I sliced his head off again. And yep. He grew another head. "Geez! How many heads have you got in there?!"

"They're not my heads. It's other people's flesh I've eaten being recycled."

"Well, that gives a whole new meaning to word recycle."

Well, I was dead. He had backed into a corner and I couldn't kill him. He raised his hand, with his razor sharp talons and swung at about 200 miles per hour in the direction of my neck.

At the last second, Larry came and knocked him away. Then he looked at me. "Okay, don't ask how I did that."

"How did you do that?"

"With my Spit-Reactor power. I spit and to him it's like a hard punch."

"Well, at least you came on time."

Behind him, the Red Eye slowly got up and started coming up. Boy, was he not giving up! There's no stopping some people. I mean, I've known that Red Eyes are persistent but this was ridiculous!

"I'm not finished with you!" he said.

"Neither am I! That was just a warm-up. Let's dance for real now!" Before I could stop him. He took his razor-sharp claw and slapped Lilia twice, and blood started pouring down from her cheek. She was crying in pain.

Well, that did it! Now I was REALLY mad. "Leave her alone and hurt me instead!"

He came closer until he was inches away. "Don't you get it, Spiny?"

Got what? What the heck was he talking about? But I didn't say anything to reveal my fear. It would've have been the death of me. So I just said, "I don't think you get it! Why do you live this way? We have never done any harm to you, Red Eyes! We never did anything to give you a reason to attack us mercilessly! We never did anything wrong!"

He grinned. "Then that's it then."

You definitely will not believe what happened next.


	8. Chapter 8

What exactly happened? I'll tell you what! As soon as Red Eye finished talking, we started hearing drums and electric guitars around us. All the Red Eyes, even the helicopters and their tanks, started dancing to the eerie music.

The Red Eye in front of me stepped back several feet and stood on his hind legs. Then…he began to sing, while the others made up the chorus. Can you believe that?! He was singing. Here's what the song said.

THE RED EYES THEME SONG

We are the Red Eyes,

We are evilllll.

We make no promises,

We make no pacts,

We always kill.

We always come back,

For more and more.

So stay alert, alert.

Because we will KILL YOU ALL!

Pretty creepy and cheesy, right? I mean, please. Who ever said that villains could compose songs? That doesn't even rhyme! It has no imagery, no metaphors, no melody, no nothing! Just a bunch of garbage! It's even worse than rap, hip-hop, heavy metal, rock, and techno music. And I hate all those genres.

But I you think that's weird, brace yourself for something even weirder. When the song ended, all of the Red Eyes suddenly disappeared. I mean, really. They just vanished into thin air!

I looked all around and didn't see any signs of them. Larry leaned over and whispered, "They're gone, Spiny."

Sure enough, it was all quiet again. "Well…I got out all right with a scratched face, a bruised neck, an almost broken tail and two claw injuries on my foot."

Larry looked down. "Spiny, you're bleeding!"

"What?"

"Your feet! You're bleeding!"

I looked down and sure enough, my feet were stained with something red. I got dizzy and started feeling weak at the knees, and was on my way to fainting. I'd probably cut myself somehow and with the adrenaline hadn't even felt it.

"Quick, Larry. Rush me to the hospital!" I fell to the ground and was about to mumble my last words when…sniff! Hey, that blood smelled pretty weird. Smelled like…huh? Then I looked down again, and picked the…I felt my temper rising. I stood up and looked at Larry. "Larry that is paint! Red paint! Can't you tell the difference between red paint and blood?"

"I, uh…"

"Shut up!"

Just then, Lilia walked up behind us. The left side of her face was bleeding. "Lilia! Your face!"

"I'm okay. I just go slapped in the face. That's it."

I walked up to her. "Are you sure? It looks bad."

She shook her head. "I'm okay. I'll tell my mom to fix me up. And you could use some help too."

"Huh?"

"Your face has cuts all over them and your legs and arms are scraped pretty badly." I looked down all over me and sure enough, I was one big mess on blood and injuries. Nothing life-threatening, but all those wounds would get infected if I didn't do anything about them.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I should. I'll take care of this whole mess." The three of us walked back to our homes. At the Palace a few minutes later, I was sitting in the living room sofa, while Patty was attending to my wounds. She grabbed a cotton ball with alcohol and placed it over a cut on my cheek. "Ow!"

"Stop moving!"

"It hurts!" I mean, I may be manly and all that, but I'm not made of steel. I feel pain too. "Ahh!"

"Spiny, I haven't even touched you yet!"

"Oh, heh. Yeah, that's right."

"It's all psychological," Larry said.

I sighed. "Psychological, my foot! It still hurts, you know."

I was about to tell him off when Patty looked up at Larry. "How come you don't have any wounds?"

My blood froze and chills ran down my spine. Larry's eyes popped open and he said, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…what was the question?"

"I said how come you aren't hurt?"

Larry looked at me and I heard his voice in my mind say, _Spiny. I used my Re-Healing Power in the fight._

I looked at him, dumbfounded. Then I said, _Once again, you have brought us into another mess._

"Um, um, I don't know, let's just say that I managed to avoid his blows," said Larry.

"Yeah," I said. "He's a little bit more well-coordinated than I am." You know what the idiot did then? He yelled and with his feet, kicked a vase near the wall and it fell, smashing it into pieces. I stared at the mess he'd made, and then looked up at him. "Larry. That was my sister's favorite vase."

"It was $1500!" Patty yelled.

"Which sister? Your sister?"

"Yes, I only have one sister,'" I said.

"Well, you never know. Sometimes things come out wrong."

"Larry!"

Well, as if on cue, guess who came to see what the noise was? Yep, Kathy. "I heard a crash. What was…" then she saw the hundreds of pieces of porcelain on the floor. She looked up at Larry. "Is this my vase?"

"No, it was your vase before I knocked it over."

You could see fire in Kathy's eyes and she started grinding her teeth. "This…is real, live…vase material! It belonged to my great-aunt!"

Larry looked at me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

What? Now he was putting the blame on me!? Ha! "Because I didn't think you would be stupid enough to break it it into a million pieces!"

"It's not a million pieces. I, I, I, I can fix it. Glue, that's it! Bring me some glue."

Patty stood up. "I'll get it. Be right back."

Kathy crossed her arms and looked at Larry with a murderous glare. "You better be able to fix it or else."

"Or else what?"

Kathy ran her finger across her throat and made a wicked sound. Something told me that she wasn't referring to chopping wood. More like chopping a certain Eoraptor's head off. Larry didn't exactly jump up and down from joy at hearing that. Believe me, even Larry won't mess around with Kathy when she's mad. And that's pretty much always.

Patty came after a few minutes with the bottle of glue and handed it to Larry. "Here you are."

"Thanks." He shook the glue bottle…only that he didn't realize that it was open and…long story short, he splashed glue all over my face. "Hey! Why don't watch what you're doing?!"

He ignored me and started gluing the vase back together, piece by piece. He was actually doing a good job and would've been great except that, uh, well; let's just say that it didn't quite turn out the way we had wanted.

He opened the glue bottle, because he was having trouble squeezing it out, and…he got glue all over Kathy. The three of us all stared at Kathy with huge eyes and open mouths. "Uh-ohhhh," Patty said.

I started laughing. Kind of mean of me, right? "Oh, Larry, you are SO dead!"

Larry was shaking. I mean, he was it trembling like a bowl of Jell-O in an earthquake. I am not kidding. Larry may be a lot of things, but if there's one thing that he cannot defeat or fight, it's an enraged teenage girl. He is terrified of that.

"Uh, Spiny can I use your car?"

"No."

"Thanks." Then, like greased lightning, he ran out the door outside.

I went after him. "Come here, you!"

You know what the rat did? He knocked out my chauffeur, stole the car keys and got in. "You're not allowed to do that!" I yelled behind him. He got in and started the engine of my new 2015 Lamborghini aventador LP 720-4 50th anniversario. "Larry! That thing cost $3.2 million and they only make like ten a year."

"Thank goodness," he said.

"What do you mean, thank goodness?"

"They're cheap."

"Cheap?!"

"Cheap quality."

"Cheap quality, nothing. Get out of my car!"

He started the engine and at the last minute, I jumped in the window into the passenger

seat. "Get out of my car!"

Well, I should've been watching out for a trick, but I guess I was too concentrated on getting him out of there. Only that he pressed the Eject button and I went flying out of there like a rocket.

I landed a little while later. I should mention that it was not an easy landing and I came crashing through the roof and two stories. What a way to end the day huh?


	9. Chapter 9

**(NEXT DAY. Sunday, May 24, 2015.)**

I was reading a book, when Larry came in. "Hey, Spiny can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you go to school?"

"Uh…yeah. Occasionally. Why do you ask if you already knew that?"

"How are your grades, young man?" he said in an authoritative voice.

I stood up and crossed my arms at him. "They happen to be above the international average of senior college graduates with bachelor's degrees."

"Shame on you! Taking advantage of your intelligence."

"Larry."

"What?"

"I study to get intelligence. That's the only way to learn."

"Aha! Taking advantage of your good studying habits! Nah, I'm just kidding."

 **(SKIPPING AHEAD A FEW DAYS. MAY 26, 2015.)**

Larry and I were walking down the hallways to our next class which was HS Chemistry. We were taking a high school course. You see, I want to graduate early from high school and gain as much credits as possible. High school takes a huge chunk of time and I need that chunk to rule the country and take care of the family.

Anyways, we were in class. Before I say what happened, I should mention that Larry mostly gets B-'s and an occasional B+. We were getting our final exams back and the teacher was handing it to us. I got an A+. And so did Patty, Darla, and Lilia. Dimetroodon got an A. Tyrone got a C-. And Kylie got a…never mind. Moving on!

"And for Larry, an A."

We all said, "HUH?!"

I mean, obviously we all know what a big goofball Larry is and I wasn't used to this kind of good behavior. I mean, I got so suspicious that I said, "Wait a minute!" I snatched the paper out of Larry's hands and looked it all over. And you know what? It was genuine.

But I was still shocked. "Did you really get an A on this?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, we learn things every day, don't we?"

"We do? I mean, we do."

I turned back to the others and said, "Why don't we go get some chocolate malts after school to celebrate?"

They all said yeah and nodded. Larry said, "Yeah…sure," in a monotone voice.

"Well, don't be so enthused about it," said Darla.

Ignoring her, Larry said, "Thank you, my friend. I'd be honored."

Anyways, several hours later, Larry and I were on the way out of school. All of the sudden, he said, "Now don't ask why I'm doing so good all of the sudden."

Don't ask why? Nevertheless, I said, "Why are you doing so good?"

"Why do you think?" he asked me.

"Um, I don't know. You cheat?"

"No, Spiny."

"Because you've finally picked up some good study habits?"

"Yes."

I looked at him real good. Larry study hard? That was hard to conceive. "Why do I not believe you?"

"Because, I'm Larry, Spiny," he said in a sly manner.

"Yeah, that's you. Trustworthy on the one hand and not so much on the other."

"That's just it, Spiny. I'm discovering my other self."

"Heh. I didn't even know you had another side."

All of the sudden, his eyes popped open. "Uh-oh. Look who's coming."

"Who?"

Then I heard a voice say, "Hi, losers!" Tyrone. Oh no.

I turned around and looked at him. Just then, a 6th grader passed by eating a sandwich and what do you think Tyrone did? For no good reason, he snatched the sandwich out of the poor kid's hands, said, "Thank you," and gobbled it down. Then he burped. And I mean, _burped_. You could actually see green fumes in the air. I'm not kidding. It was that bad.

Then he had an evil look on his face. He said to Larry, "Turn around."

"Why?"

"Turn around."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay." And you know what? Larry did turn around. In a circle! Ha, you should've seen Tyrone's face. I was dying of laughter.

"I meant….just, just turn halfway around!"

Larry turned but only about a quarter of the way. Tyrone was really mad now. "Okay, wise guy! You asked for it!"

He forced Larry to turn around was about to pull his tail super-hard, but Larry kept moving his tail so that Tyrone wouldn't be able to. Now that really did it for Tyrone. He grabbed Larry by the neck, and stuffed him into a trash bin.

Oh, Tyrone thought that he had just done a good job. But surprise! Larry was right behind him. "Wha…I thought I put you in the trash bin!"

Larry crossed his arms and looked up at him. "Think again before you pick on somebody smaller than you!" Then, Larry looked all around to make sure nobody was looking. And he used the Spit Reactor Power. The one where if you spit at someone, it's like if you punched them really hard.

Tyrone definitely didn't see that coming.

But, I didn't really like how Larry had used super-power in public. "Why did you do that?"

"I have limits, too, Spiny," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just go." I wanted to get out of there before something else happened.

We were outside walking down the street. "Hey, here comes Fal!" I said to Larry.

Remember, Fal is my Royal Budget Supervisor. And he is a Pachycephalosaurus and Larry LOVES to tease him about his dome-shaped head, because it looks as if he is bald. "Hey, Spiny."

"Hey, Fal."

Larry was just staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing."

But Larry kept staring at him. After about ten seconds, Fal said, "Why are you staring at me?"

"Who wouldn't?"

"Larry!" I said. "Come on, don't start this."

"Why? What's the point in ending it? He's already here."

"Larry!"

"Spiny."

Then, he said to Fal, "Fal."

To which he said, "Yech!"

"Yellow," Larry said.

"Larry," I said. "Stop making fun of Fal just because he doesn't have any, you know hair."

"Hair? Hair? No, don't say that word in front of him, Spiny. It depresses him."

"Excuse me!" Fal yelled and he stomped away.

I looked at Larry. "Boy, does he really like you."

"Yeah, I think he does. He doesn't slam his fist against a tree anymore."

Well, we kept on walking down the street to Arnold's.

And it would've been great if we hadn't bumped into Kylie Anderson. Ugh. Just saying her name makes me sick to the stomach. What about having to deal with her personally? That is a nightmare which seems to keep repeating itself.

"Uh-oh. Here comes Ms. Popularity herself," said Larry.

Yep. Kylie was in front of us, trotting along, walking up to us. "Hi," she said.

To which Larry responded by saying, "Shut up."

To which I responded by laughing and snickering.

Kylie gave Larry such a look that I think even a would've gone running. I mean, when Kylie's angry, she's really angry. So, instead she turned to me and said, "Hi, doll!" Oh, no. Here we go with the endearments.

All I could think of was, "Yech!"

"How are you?" she said.

"Uh, fine. Fine."

"Yeah, he was fine until you came," said Larry.

Ha! You should've seen Kylie's face when he said that. "Who asked you?" she answered in a nasty voice.

"I don't care if you ask me or not."

"Oh, yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, then, I…never mind. Who cares about you?"

"I do," Larry and I said at the same time. "I mean," again at the same time. Ugh. "Never mind," I said.

"I think you lost your marbles," Kylie said to Larry.

"I'll say this. I may not care that much for Larry, but I do care a whole lot for Lilia."

Ha. Now, that really got Kylie all stirred up. I loved watching her get angry! "Oh, please! Don't start with her. You can't really be serious about her."

"Oh, he's not starting with her," said Larry. I was like, "HUH?" Then he said, "He already started with her."

Oh…that's better.

But, Kylie, being as stubborn as she is, wouldn't accept that. "Oh, yes. I heard some crazy rumors that you're…dating her or something like that. Oh, don't people make up a lot of crazy rumors."

I crossed my arms. "Yes, but it just so happens that this crazy rumor is true to life."

"What do you know, cupcake? Just because you're the cutest guy in the country and you're on the permanent list of the 20 Most Beautiful People in the World. What do you know about girls?" She marched off, still furious.

"Apparently not her," said Larry.

"I know, right?" I said. "And I really am on that list."

And speaking of which, guess who came walking up to us. I'll give you a hint: she has long, flowing silky brown hair. Light brown eyes. Has an unbelievably beautiful face. Yep, none other than my beautiful girlfriend and first love, Lilia Woods.

"Hi, guys," she said.

I was about to return the hello, when Dingbat Larry said, "Shut up, oh, it's Lilia!" I slapped my hand against my face. Ay yay yay. "I mean, hello Lilia. Sorry, you see, I thought that Kylie had come back to annoy us again."

"Kylie? Was she just here?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. We got her all angry and she stormed off mad."

"It's okay. I see you've recovered well from the Red Eye attack."

Larry rolled his eyes. "As usual."

I laughed. "Yeah, he wouldn't be able to get hurt if he was inside a nuke when it explodes. Right?"

"You mean inside the bathroom when you're—"

"LARRY!"

Ignoring him, I turned to Lilia. "So, how have you been?" I pointed to some bandages on her face where the Red Eye had hit her with his tail.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. It's healing pretty fast. Doctor said I'll be able to take it off in two days."

"Say, you know what day it's going to be this Thursday?" I asked her.

A smile started forming on her face. Her cheeks look so cute! She gets dimples when she smiles which makes her look even prettier. If that's even possible. "Our first-month anniversary."

I smiled back. "Yep." I turned to Larry. "It's going to be a month since our first kiss."

"Aww!" he said.

I grabbed Lilia's hand. It made me jittery every time. "You want to go out to see a movie?"

"I'd love to."

"Don't tell me you're going to watch _The Interview_ ," Larry said.

"Larry, that movie is banned in this country," I said.

"Take her to see _Godzilla_."

"Shut up!"

"How about _The Life of Pi_? No, that's a horrible movie. How about…ever heard of _Hunger Games_?"

"Yeah."

"They make me hungry."

"Oh, shut up."

"How about _Chicken Run_?"

"Larry."

"Yeah?"

"Who's taking Lilia out? Me or you?"

"Um, you?"

"So who decides which movie? Me or you?"

"Um, you?"

"That's right." I turned back to Lilia. "What do you want to see?"

"How about _San Andreas_? It's going to be the premier."

"You want to see that one? Sure you won't get nightmares?"

She shook her head. "Not if you're there to hold me close."

I couldn't help smile and kissed her cheek. "Thanks."

"So it's your first-month anniversary, huh?" said Larry. "Let's see…1 times four is 120 weeks, then times seven days a week…that's like 500 days. Wait, no!"

Lilia and I laughed at Larry's poor math. "Wait, I did something wrong in there somewhere," he said.

I don't know what got into Larry, but all of the sudden he got into his Crazy Mode. He got on my head and started pulling at my hair.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ahh! Get off!"

Larry pulled of one hair and started yelling out on the street, "Get your free sample of Spiny's hair!"

Well, as if on cue, out of nowhere a blonde girl came up to Larry all giddy and jumpy. "How much is it? How much is it?!"

"$1000."

"I'll take it!" She gave Larry the money and put the hair in her scrapbook. Then she said to me, "Are you giving away free kisses?"

"HUH?"

I could feel Lilia get uncomfortable. "Sorry, no."

"Oh, please! Please!"

"Sorry, no." I put my arm around Lilia. "She's the only one who gets my kisses."

The girl looked disappointed and walked away sad. Then Lilia said to me, "You didn't have to do that?"

"Why not? I had to. You're my girlfriend and I have to be loyal to you." I kissed her on the lips. "Besides that, I love you."

She smiled and blushed. "I love you, too." I turned to Larry. "Why don't we all go get some burgers at Arnold's?"

"Sounds like an idea," said Lilia.

"And a good one, too," said Larry.

While we were there, waiting for our orders, I was telling them about the time that Kathy made me do something unorthodox for a school fundraiser. "She assigned me to a kissing booth," I said.

"Oh, my goodness!" said Larry.

"Really?" said Lilia.

"Yep. And I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but some of the girls had huge eyeglasses, and ponytails, and one even a moustache."

"Oh, lard," Larry said.

"And there were pretty cute ones, too. If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, like donuts."

I stared at him blankly. "What?"

"Donuts are cute. Don't you think so?"

I blinked my eyes at him, then turned to Lilia who was sitting next to me. "I don't know."

"But," I said to Larry. "Lilia here is a completely different kind of girl. Her own category." Lilia put her arm around me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah, she's a specially bred type," Larry said.

"WHAT?!" we both said.

"Bred? Bred?! BRED?!" I said, getting angrier. Just at that second, the waiter came out and said, "What kind of bread, Your Majesty? We have French bread, pumpernickel bread, white bread, whole wheat, whole grain, honey oats, bagels, biscuits…"

"Shut up and get out of here!"

"Oh…uh, okay." He left back to the kitchen. Then I turned back to Larry. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"I was saying that Lilia is beautiful, smart, has a great sense of humor, she has beautiful eyes, soft hair, she is a great companion, has a great family, is a good student, and is also my best friend."

Larry looked at me suspiciously. "Besides you," I said. "Ahh," he said.

You should've seen Lilia's face. She was blushing so hard that someone else might have thought that she painted her face. "Oh, Spiny, do you really mean all that?"

I leaned my forehead against hers. "Of course I do. It's true."

Anyways, after that we went back home to get some well-deserved rest. I mean, we'd had a pretty busy past few days, especially with the Red Eyes.

But, just like I promised, I took Lilia to the movies Thursday night. The movie was awesome! And it was in 3D! But even better was having my arm around her and her head tilted on my shoulder. On the way back, we went walking home, holding hands.

When we stopped at her front door, she turned to me and said, "Thanks so much for everything."

"Of course. But, I have another surprise for you."

"Really?" she said, excited.

I nodded. "Yup. Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just close your eyes and you'll see how good it is to be obedient." She closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Well, a kiss wasn't the surprise. I pushed a gift-wrapped box in her hands. She opened her eyes and looked down. "What is it?"

"Open it!"

She tore at the gift wrap, revealing a large black box. You may think it was jewelry, right? Wrong! She opened the box and, "Oh, Spiny! Your first CD!" Yep. Pretty clever, huh?

"Yeah. It's the first copy. It's going to officially come out next week, but since you're so special, I wanted you to have the very first one. And it's signed, too. Read what the inside cover says."

She opened CD case, and read it out loud. "I dedicate my first musical success to the most beautiful, sweetest, and nicest girl in the whole world, Lilia Woods." She was almost in tears now. She threw her arms around me. "Oh, thank you!"

"You like it?"

"Of course I do!" She looked over the CD case. "Where's the song titles? Oh, here they are! Thirteen songs! Wow! Did you write all of them?"

"Well, yeah, actually."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Yeah."

I looked down at my feet. "Um, well, I have to go now. See you tomorrow, then?"

"Of course." She leaned over and kissed me softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I said, caressing her face. Then she went in her house, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

Well, like they say, all ends well. This is just a typical day's work. Well, more than one day, but you get the idea. And no matter what the dangers or the challenges are, I'm always willing to be there to take it.

And that makes it all more worthwhile.


End file.
